by C. M. Kane
‘Are we near the landing area,’ Loki shouted as they sped over the thick Forest far below. Dreela answered as the harpies started to beat their wings in earnest, gaining both altitude and distance, but still the enemy harpies were gaining. Another ten minutes or so, we’ll never make it without fighting, this is the remnants of the defeated flock, I’m afraid they’ll want to take some revenge before they leave our area completely.’
‘Climb,’ yelled Tae thinking fast. ‘If you climb as high as you can before they reach us you can then go into a dive and build as much speed as you can, the extra weight you’re carrying will build your speed quicker than the theirs, that way we might be able to make it to the jumper before they reach us. I have an armored personal vid ball guarding it and it will destroy the other harpies before they can get to us, if we can make it to it in time that is.’ Dreela waited for Loki to answer, he was listening to Tae intently.
‘Do it,’ he said quickly. The harpies spent the next few minutes using every ounce of strength they possessed to gain altitude as they continued slowly towards the jumpers landing site. Just as the attacking harpies got to within twenty meters of them Dreela issued a strange keening cry and the harpies carrying the four passengers jerked their leg back and up, as they became inverted they folded their wings tight against their backs, and went into a steep dive. They dissected the pursuing flock through the center, scattering them in disarray as they plummeted past them. Tae made a small noise of abject terror but kept her eyes open as she saw the forest rushing towards them at a rapid pace. Just as she was sure they were going to crash she felt her harness jerk painfully across her chest, her ride had spread her wings wide and was now leveling off. She watched as the forest hurtled by beneath them with only a couple of meters to spare, her fear of heights now almost forgotten, as the more immediate fear of being torn to shreds by the enemy harpies took up her thoughts.
‘Tell me when we’re close,’ she yelled out to anyone that was listening. The harpies were straining with everything they had as they fled across the tree tops, all too soon she heard a screech of triumph from behind them, the enemy flock was closing rapidly.
‘Another minute or two,’ yelled Dreela into the wind, panting with effort.
It was all Tae needed, she started to yell at the top of her lungs, ‘Brightmoon, were under attack, kill any harpy not carrying a passenger.’ She kept yelling the same thing over and over until the clearing came into site.
One minute she was flying; the next moment the harpy carrying her had spread her wings wide and was flapping them furiously as her legs jerked down. As they landed, the harpy immediately began to unbuckle Tae from her harness whilst turning to fight. She needn’t have bothered; the pursuing harpies were enveloped by rapidly appearing zap gun blasts issuing from Tae’s vid ball.
The small black ball that the Brightmoon had following her like a guard dog had every-one of its gun ports open and was now firing continuously into their pursuers with deadly accuracy. The other harpies didn’t stand a chance; they ploughed into the ground with loud shrieks and the sounds of snapping bones. Even when it was obvious the pursuing flock was dead the vid ball kept hovering over them, firing at one of the corpses intermittently as if it was angry.
The harpies that had carried them began making odd hooting sounds, seemingly triumphant at their enemy’s deaths; well Tae saw that they were smiling anyway. They finished un-strapping their passengers and she immediately sunk to the ground in relief. After taking a few deep steadying breaths she got shakily to her feet again and looked up, straight into the scanner of the hovering vid ball.
To Tae’s drugged, scared, and tired mind, it was looking exceedingly angry, even reproachful. She stood motionless and watched as its blue beam went over her several times, finally, seemingly satisfied at not finding any apparent injuries, it again moved to the front of her and sat at face level, as if waiting for an explanation for her tardiness.
‘Long story, sweetie, I promise I’ll fill you in when I get back okay,’ she muttered. The vid ball watched her for another second before turning its gaze to the Tore, who were now walking over to the jumper with Loki; its gun ports were still open. Tae moved quickly to join them, addressing the vid ball as she went.
‘It’s okay, Brightmoon, they’re new friends, they saved us, so we are bringing them back to show you to them, they are going to help us in the coming fight.’
The vid ball hovered closely above Tae’s head; it reminded her of a wary animal scenting the air for danger. Loki gave Borig and his companion Landore a brief rundown of what not to do once they got onboard Brightmoon. They both seemed confused at the concept of a living ship and eyed Tae’s little companion with interest. Thankfully they quickly agreed to all of Loki’s commands, they were grateful to the small black machine, it had saved their lives.
At the sound of an angry roar echoing from the surrounding jungle, and the suddenly nervous looks on the faces of the Tore, they quickly thanked Dreela and her companions and hopped into the Jumper and departed. Tae noticed that the large Minotaur had to duck their heads and scrunch down to get into the Jumper because of their horns; she guessed that being big had its disadvantages after all.
Loki strapped himself into the pilot’s seat and turned to smile at her. ‘If I haven’t said it before, thank you, Tae. Once again you have not only saved me, but in doing so have saved this mission and unlocked a vast hidden resource to us all, you never cease to surprise me.’
Tae blushed and ducked her head shyly at his praise, she didn’t lift it again until the small craft had lifted off and was flying swiftly back to Brightmoon.
Despite everything, somehow this has turned out pretty well, she thought satisfied. Well, mostly, and now we’re going back home to Brightmoon, perhaps things are finally working out well for a change. She’d taken a big risk, and although it hadn’t turned out exactly as she’d envisioned, it had turned out to be well worth it in other ways. She smiled to herself and allowed herself to bask in the glow of Loki’s praise, for the first time in a long time she felt reasonably good about things.
Perhaps things are finally looking up! She thought hopefully.
Chapter 23
Tae listened closely to the two Minotaur sitting behind them as they approached and entered Brightmoon, she wanted to judge their reactions to what was happening to them. They kept their emotions under control through-out the flight, even though Loki had switched on the view-screens for them so that they could see what was happening. This was, after all, the most momentous thing that had occurred to any of their race since their abandonment on Tartarise. She heard their breathing accelerate the moment they caught sight of the massive Dreadnaught, she didn’t blame them, Brightmoon was intimidating at the best of times. After they entered the hanger and Loki brought them into land they remained quiet. Looking at them you would be hard pressed to see any emotion on their faces, let alone fear, they were so controlled. Her opinion of the warrior’s bravery continued to climb. Showing no fear was the most basic lesson for any warrior; and as she had found out, it was also the hardest lesson to learn, by far.
Tae noticed Brohan, Vulcan and several Warriors were all waiting for them as they touched down. Loki’s welcoming committee she supposed. She knew she had to talk to both gods as soon as possible to relay what she had learnt from Latrissa, so as soon as the jumper was shut down she turned to him. ‘I need to tell you and Lord Vulcan exactly what Latrissa told me in her reading, it’s really important, it could affect everything we do from now on. Then I’ll have to go straight to the bridge and see if I can reassure Brightmoon, if that’s okay?’ she said.
Loki nodded. ‘I’ll contact Radnor to arrange a meeting between us. I’ll want Zeus to hear it as well, that way everyone’s up to date, so don’t wander off, Brightmoon will just have to wait a little until we’re finished. Besides, she knows your safe now through the vid ball.’
Tae nodded and moved quickly out of the small craft as Loki began to
unbuckle his harness. Her vid ball was just starting to move out of the cockpit as she stepped into the hanger proper, the door closed behind her inadvertently trapping her pesky ball inside with the others,
she didn’t even notice she was so preoccupied. She was thinking that Loki was right, telling them all about Latrissa’s predictions first was too important to delay; even though she really needed to get to Brightmoon and apologize to her as soon as possible. She’d managed to get two steps from the jumper before she felt herself wrenched around and thrown forcibly back against its side. A massive hand grasped her shoulder roughly holding her firmly in place; she looked up in shock, only to find herself staring into the enraged pale blue eyes of Vulcan.
‘What the hell did you think you were doing? I should kill you where you stand for disobeying direct orders, not to mention dereliction of duty, you stupid girl!’
Tae couldn’t comprehend what was going on; let alone why Vulcan looked as though he was ready to murder her. She absently heard her vid ball banging against the inside of the jumpers closed door; she didn’t know its weapon ports fully open again.
‘WELL!’ He yelled.
She hadn’t even thought of an answer when Vulcan’s hand was ripped from her shoulder and the muscle-bound god was thrown unceremoniously across the hanger, landing with a thud some twenty meters from her. Warriors scattered in shock as they watched Loki unsheathe his swords. He strode over to where he had just thrown Vulcan to confront him, a look of pure rage contorting his features.
‘Don’t you ever touch her again, Vulcan. Ever! Do I make myself clear? He said in a quiet deadly voice.
Vulcan picked himself up, he was now even more enraged that Loki had attacked him for disciplining the woman; especially given all the trouble she had just caused. He looked up about to berate him back when he noticed his fangs, they were fully extended. Gone was the cool calculating look he had always seen on his face, in its place was undiluted rage. For the first time in all the Millennia he had known him, Loki looked as though he was on the verge of losing his temper and attacking him. While Vulcan knew he was physically stronger than the dark eyed god, when it came to weapons Loki was his superior, and right at this moment he looked like he was simply waiting for any excuse to introduce him to the two bloody swords he was absently swinging in small tight arcs.
Vulcan looked across at Tae in confusion, she was rubbing her shoulder where he had grabbed her and the shirt she was wearing slipped aside a little at the neck. He gasped in shock when he seen the bite mark and stared from it back to Loki in unconcealed surprise. ‘You bit her?’ he asked, his voice betraying his emotions.
Loki eyes cleared as he came back to his senses, he realized with horror that not only had Vulcan noticed Tae’s bite mark, but his fangs had ran out again at the thought of her being harmed.
‘We will not speak of such things here,’ he said as he re-sheathed his swords. ‘There is much to discuss, including the retrofitting of as many buzz bombs as we can make.’
Vulcan pulled his head back in surprise, it was then he noticed the two Minotaur stepping out of the jumper, along with Tae’s vid ball that quickly rushed to her and began scanning her immediately. Once the Tore alighted they stood together with their heads slightly lowered and their horns facing forward, as if daring anyone to oppose their presence.
Loki lead Vulcan over to them as Tae stood glued to the jumper’s side unmoving. ‘Vulcan, may I introduce you to the Tores warrior leader, Borig, and one of his warriors, Landore.’
The two Minotaur bowed their heads in greeting. ‘It is an honor, My Lord,’ they both intoned, and then Borig looked up with a puzzled look on his face. ‘But why would you attack the god slayer,’ he asked baldly.
Vulcan’s brows rose at being questioned directly by a warrior, until he remembered the Minotaur had no sense of decorum. If they wanted to know something they simply asked, and given their impressive size, they usually got an answer.
‘My thoughts exactly, Borig’ said Loki, his anger rising immediately at the thought of Vulcan hurting Tae. He noticed that she was still standing quietly watching them, as were the rest of the Warriors, who all looked to be in differing stages of shock. If he hadn’t been so angry still Loki would have been amused, today was certainly a first for them. They’d not only seen Minotaur for the first time in several generations; but they’d also witnessed two of their Gods come very close to a serious brawl before Vulcan had asked that question, and Loki had come to his senses. He realized he was lucky that he was facing away from them when he stalked over to where Vulcan had lain, otherwise he’d have the embarrassment of them seeing his new/old little friends that to him, now seemed intent on making themselves known at every available opportunity.
‘You have no idea what happened after Tae deserted us to go and rescue you,’ said Vulcan angrily. ‘Brightmoon had what I can only describe as, a temper tantrum. She turned off life support to the bridge when they tried to get her to move, and she started to move about of her own accord. From what we’ve been able to ascertain since, she’s blasted one of Tartarises moons half to hell.’
They both heard the muttered ‘Damn,’ come from Tae’s direction and turned to her; she gave them a weak half smile but remained silent.
‘Yet you seem to have managed to get everything under control by yourself, so what the hell is your problem?’ Loki asked sarcastically.
Vulcan frowned in frustration ‘The problem is; none of this would have even happened if your lieutenant hadn’t deserted her post!’
Loki snorted. ‘Once again we should be grateful that she did, because with-out her I would probably be either dead or still sitting unmoving in a bloody cave. Without her presence on Tartarise we would never have met the Minotaur, and with-out her we would never have come to an accord with them. We will now be mining as much Felice rock as we want, with both their protection, and their help.’
Vulcan looked at the two Tore than back to Tae, his frown deepening.
‘Of course I am grateful for your return, Loki, and I am surprised by the events that have obviously occurred,’ he said, looking pointedly at Tae’s neck. ‘If what you say is true then most of our problems are solved, we now have the time and resources to mine the Felice, so we can now start to mass produce the bombs and start handing them out soon.’
‘Well you better hurry and start,’ said Tae speaking for the first time. Everyone in the Hanger immediately turned to look at her. She stared from one god to the other before continuing, ‘because according to Latrissa, the Minotaur’s seer, we must be through the portal and at another site before twenty three days are up, or we’re all toast!’
Loki frowned at her. ‘So soon?’ he asked.
Tae looked back at him nodding. ‘Trust me, you haven’t even heard the good bits yet, we’re in serious trouble, My Lords, because I’ve been thinking about what Latrissa told me, and I’ve got a really nasty suspicion about what she said. I think the Titans still had the plans to the original Ouranos, and they haven’t been letting the grass grow under their feet. I think they’ve been busy building a fleet of them since you left. And if we can’t get these bombs built and sneak over there and knock out their ships somehow, than we better find a new home in a hurry, because they’re going to be arriving very soon.’
Vulcan and Loki stared at each other in horror as the milling Warriors watched and listened in concern. Everyone’s thought was the same; the Brightmoon was incredibly powerful, a behemoth amongst even the gods fleet of ships. How in all the realms could they ever hope to defeat a fleet of them? It was going to take a miracle to get out of this.
Loki looked over at Tae, concern written over his face. ‘Come, we will convene the meeting now, we’re going to need you to tell us all exactly what Latrissa saw.’
Tae nodded and stepped away from the Jumper, she was still eyeing Vulcan warily, as if expecting him to launch another attack at any second. She glanced up at her vid ball to find it had lowered itself slightly a
nd had turned in his direction; it had its weapons ports open and was looking at Vulcan. The threat wasn’t missed by anyone.
Vulcan looked up at the vid ball, his eyes widened slightly as he saw the open gun ports before he nodded in guiltily in recognition. Loki called Brohan over and asked him to assign one of his men to the job of showing the two Minotaur around and assigning them quarters with the other Warriors. Brohan immediately nodded, and after a quick worried glance at Tae, he called Lieutenant Tark over and gave him the job. Tae grinned to herself as she heard the Vampire muttering under his breath something about giant cows, and not being responsible for horn gouged walls. When Tark lead the Minotaur off towards the mess hall, Loki asked Brohan to join them and they set off for a room that Radnor had apparently designated as a general meeting area. Radnor was at this moment arranging food and wine to be delivered to them and would meet them there. As they entered the designated room for the meeting, and much to Tae’s surprise, Radnor nodded to her in friendly greeting, he even smiled at her in a genuinely approving manner.
Well apparently saving Loki had put me in someone’s good books. She thought back to when Vulcan had started yelling at her; she had been both shocked and frightened, quickly followed by pissed off. The rage she had seen in his eyes had told her that he wasn’t mucking about, she was about to draw her knives in self protection, not caring that he was a god. But then Loki had intervened, she thought. He had thrown the muscle bound god across the Hanger like he was a twig, and then he’d drawn his swords and he’d threatened to kill him if he touched her again. A delicious shiver ran down her spine as she watched him talking to Brohan while the food and wine was being served.
